What may appearmight easily be explained,but given the situationof info saturation,what you feel can never go away

Steering perception? I am!Inviting contradiction? I am!It's my insistenceyou keep your distancefrom the glare behind my stareSo this is the waythe game is playedYou can leave nowbut I think you'll stay I am I!

3 Damaged

Waiting for the feeling to subside,Paranoid, I melt into myselfThey say I'm to reach inside and findthe broken part of my machineryPsychoanalyze the chapterson the path to my darkest daySearching for the answers,all I see is damage through the hazePicking up the pieces of my lifewith no direction for re-assemblyThe one that lays beside meis sharing scars of my broken yesterdaysWill tomorrow find me hypnotized? Crying?Mother Mary in control,domineering strangleholdsowing destructive seedsfor the scavengers to feedDriving the nail into my head,memory flows like a riverWith the one that lays beside meI'm healing scars from my childhood memoriesTomorrow finally found meI'm hypnotized I'm tryingto understand the chaptersof the path from my darkest daySearching for the answersbut there's DAMAGE!

4 Out Of Mind

Little girl sits in the corner, locked in a stareArms waving madly at something that sadly isn't thereDressed in the day's best by a nurse who's nowhere to befound

What does she see?Maybe she's looking at me

Old man is strapped to the seat of his chair, wearing agownShouting and cursing at someone who clearly isn't aroundFather Time has twisted his mindThe staff says, "He's not well!"

To whom does he speak?Maybe he's speaking to me

So we keep these people inside these walls, from societyTheir forgotten lives safe from the crowd, they can't leaveYou've left them there with me

So we keep these people behind these walls, from societyTheir forgotten lives safe from the crowd, they can't leaveThrough the doors come people like me, good-bye to themThey see a picture few of us see They can't leaveYou've left them there with me

5 Bridge

You called me up on the phone todaystruggling with the right words to sayTime can change a thing or twoTime has changed the lives of me and you,but you know it could have been different dad

The word brings back a sweet memoryI'm sitting on a bluff on a broken tree,by my side a distinguished mangiving me encouragement, telling me I can,and you know you're not there

You say, "Son, let's forget the past,I want another chance, gonna make it last"You're begging me for a brand new start,trying to mend a bridge that's been blown apart,but you know you never built it dad

So I sit here through the night,and I write myself to sleep,and time keeps ticking

Time has made you finally realizeyour loneliness and your guilt insideYou're reaching for something you never had,turning around now you're looking back,and you know I'm not there

You say, "Son, let's forget the pastI want another chance, gonna make it last"You're begging me for a brand new start,trying to mend a bridge that's been blown apart,but you know you never built it dad

6 Promised Land

Watching the sand fall, listening for the knockupon my door,and waitingfor Promised Land

Standing neck deep in life, my ring of brasslay rusting on the floorIs this all?Because it's not what I expected

Somewhere along the wayfriends I once held closefled the fast laneI didn't notice,I just had to make itHead down, nose in the grindstone;the kiss of lifeplaced on my browkept sliddin' to the groundand now it's buried six feet under

Preaching from the floor againthe same old sad song,"Bartender bring another drink for their favorite son"

Where did it all go wrong?What's the use in even holding on?Here's to love, hate and promises

Almost called it todayTurned to face "The Void"numb with the sufferingand the question,"Why am I?"So many times I'vetried and failed togather my courage, reach again for that nailLife's been likedragging feet through sand,and never finding Promised Land

Preaching from the floor againthe same old sad song,"Bartender bring another drink for their favorite song"Where did it all go wrong?I feel like I'm dyingHere's to love, to hate,to promises and Promised Land lies

7 Dis Con Nec Ted

I've got to do somethingabout the loathsomestate I'm in

DiS CoN NeC TeDDiS CoN NeC TeDDiS CoN NeC TeD

Everywhere I see decayMechanized and sterilizedvisions of replayI must release my rage

OhDiS CoN NeC TeDI'mDiS CoN NeC TeDfeeling soDiS CoN NeC TeD

D ow n

Maybe all I needbeside my pillsand the surgeryis a new metaphor for reality

I'mDiS CoN NeC TeDfeeling soDiS CoN NeC TeDohDiS CoN NeC TeD

- you know -

8 Lady Jane

Sitting all alone, inside, today JaneThe other girls are home, we're playing a new gameThe voice is very, very close, you like it that way,and we're feeling rather warm inside

Are you smiling or afraid?You can have it either way

Lady Jane your eyes are wide today,and the world is looking very strange, you must proclaim!It's quite a scary, scary ride we take, Lady Jane

Yesterday seemed very dark, but now it's bright,your clouds have gone awaySensory perception peaking at this time,electric waves of sound are filling Janie's mind todaycalling out to Janie as you drift away, "Don't be afraid,they're only your illusion anyway"

There's hunger in Africa,and anger on assembly linesAt the touch of a buttonI'm miles awayI want no connection, just information,and I'm gone

I feel so helpless,so I turn my gaze to another place

My global mind reaches out for the truth

Why try holding back the wave?You'll only drown in the changesYou've got to learn to let goJust let go and experience the flightTry to see from a different sideIf balance is the keymaybe we'll seea future understanding,

Dig down deepto find the man I thought I wasA dog on a treadmill panting,the master pulls the leash, laughingNow I can't remember whyI needed to run, needed to try so hard

One more time aroundis all I ask for now,a star to seek by, wind totake me home again

"Work hard in life boy,there's paradise in the end"Year after year we struggle to gainthe happiness our parents never claimedThey told us all we had to dowas do what we're told, buy what was sold,"Invest in gold, and never get old"

One more time aroundis all I ask for now,a star to steer by, wind totake me home again

11 Someone Else?

When I fell from graceI never realizedhow deep the flood was around meA man whose life was toilwas like a kettle left to boil,and the water left scars on me

I know now who I amIf only for a while,I recognize the changesI feel like I did before themagic wore thin and the "baptismof stains" began

They used to say I wasnowhere, man,heading downwas my destinyBut yesterday, I swear,that was someone else not me

Here I stand at the crossroads edge,afraid to reach out for eternity,One step, when I look down,I see someone else not me

Looking back and I seesomeone else

All my life they said Iwas going down,but I'm still standing,stronger, proudAnd today I know there'sso much more I can be

From where I stand at the crossroads edge,there's a path leading out to seaAnd from somewheredeep in my mind,sirens sing out loudsongs of doubtas only they know howBut one glance back reminds, and I see,someone else not me

I keep looking backat someone else me?

12 Dirty Lil Secret

Times have changedfor the betterYou like to sayNice house in the countryNow you're on your wayYou took advantage of our possibilitiesGot your sights set farNo time for sympathy

Keeping up with the Jones'sSmiling at the neighborsDon't let them see your

How can you know someoneUntil you walk in their shoes?Our parents taught us segregationNow we're singing the bluesThe dynamic of America is progress for allWell, can't hold us back we're right on the trackNo wall is too tallBy the will of the peopleWe'll take a road to higher groundAnd don't worry about that

When I fell from grace I never realizedHow deep the flood was around meA man whose life was toil was like a kettle left to boilAnd the water left these scars on me

The chains I wore were mine, dragging me towards my fatePlanned for me long ago

I played by all their rules, went to their right schools

Who was I to question?

They used to say I was nowhere manHeading down was my destinyBut yesterday I swear that wasSomeone Else not me

Here I stand at the crossroad's edgeAfraid to reach out for eternityOne step when I look downI see someone else, not me

I know now who I am, if only for awhileI recognize the changesI feel like I did, before the magic wore thinAnd the baptism of stains began

Sacrifice, the always say is a sign of nobilityBut where does one draw the line in the face of injury?I'm just trying to understand

Standing here at the crossroad's edgeLooking down at what I used to beA drowning man, trying to stay afloatHeavy with the past, but somehow keeping hopeThat there's something more that is seenBut it's somewhere out of reach

So I keep looking backLooking back and I see someone else

All my life they said I was going downBut I'm still standing stronger proud

And today I know, there's so much more I can beI think I finally understand

From where I stand at the crossroad's edgeThere's a path leading out to seaAnd from somewhere deep in my mindSirens sing out loud, songs of doubt, as only they know howBut one glance back reminds and I seeSomeone Else, not me